man was reproached by his conscience that he had neglected his school now and then, had not attended the meeting of the sodalities, nor received holy Communion often enough, and had omitted his usual prayers; these reproaches filled him with such terror that he almost despaired of his salvation. Many other examples I omit. Meanwhile I am forced to this conclusion: if those apparently slight faults and sins can cause such terror in the hoar of death even to holy souls who desire their salvation, how great must not be the anguish caused to one who is dying an enemy of God by the many crimes he has committed? Ah, such a one shall cry out to still the reproaches of conscience, have I not enough to suffer? Leave me in peace. No! You shall never have peace from me! You shall die; but not I; I will follow you to the very pit of hell, and there I will be your tormentor forever. Such shall be the answer of his bad conscience.
By other circumstances. What anguish will be caused too by the demons standing round the dying man in troops, open-mouthed and with fangs whetted like those of ravening wolves, lying in wait for his poor soul, to hurry away with it the moment it leaves the body. I imagined a scene like this once when I happened to see in a forest two greyhounds chasing a cat, that had tried to escape them by climbing a tree; the hunter, instead of shooting her, threw stones at her at my request, until he dislodged her; but she had not time to touch the ground; the dogs had her in their teeth while she was still in the air. “O my soul!” cries out St. Bernard, “what will be thy terror when, having left all things, thou shalt enter alone into an unknown country, where crowds of the most horrible monsters shall come to meet thee?”[1] What terror shall invade the sinful soul when the angry Judge shall refuse to allow it any more time, and shall give it over to the hunter death, to be driven by him into the fangs of the hellish wolf! And what horror shall take possession of it when it sees hell open beneath, certain that it is to be its dwelling-place forever!
Shown by a simile. Imagine how it must be with the wizard condemned to the wheel; how terrified he must be when he hears the bolts of his prison drawn that he may be led forth to execution. But that is not even a shadow of the anguish of the sinner when he sees that his soul is about to leave the body and to be precipitated into the place of eternal torments. Unhappy mortal! wherever
- ↑ O anima mea, quis erit ille pavor, cum dimissis omnibus sola ingrediens regionem penitus incognitam, occursantia tibi catervatim deterrima monstra videbis?
